I love “baby” hot hatches like these. Because although they’re not especially great at straight line speed (pretty irrelevant to be honest), on a tight, bumpy back road like the country lanes here in the U.K. They will (with a capable driver) keep up with machines that have considerably more power. And, they’re proof that you A) Don’t need a huge bank account to have a truly exciting car and B) Don’t need a big amount of power to have an even bigger amount of fun. This car and this review is seriously making me reconsider my idea of going six cylinders or more for my next car next year.
Great Review, Great Car! And I have to agree i find the 208 gti PS better than most of the other hot hatches including the ST. Show some more videos, i like the style of them!
Loved the video. Keep it up guys, theres lots of interesting cars to cover from this side of the Atlantic. PUGs have been good handling cars since decades. They put a lot of effort on that even before power.
great to follow you all the way here in Australia. I'm a big hot hatch here fan myself and we're blessed to have most of these hot hatches in Australia as well. As a Clio III RS owner it would indeed be great to see you review the Clio IV Trophy, but I think the American audience would also do well to see the king of FWD hot hatches, the Megane RS 275.
If you guys listen to the podcast you would know that he lived in northeast US, but is originally from Germany where he currently lives. Great review and keep up the good work.
As a Fiesta st Driver i say that the 208 PS is the sportyer Car. but its also much expensive then an st. the st ist competetive agains the normal 208. sadly there isnt a st with bigger Brakes, diff and Track focused tires.
Great car if you buy the face lifted car, I have one, bought it over the fiesta st not because it's faster with more hp or handles as good (all of which are big psotives tho) but because the fiesta st (in the UK at least) has a certain reputation for being everyone's second car that they modify in hideous ways and then crash. No one bought these and no one expects it to have 208hp everyone who realises the car is a gti asks "who this a gti? Probably has around 140bhp", and to this day with 2+ years of owning one nothing has gone wrong and not a single fiesta st has beat it in a race that counts the new mk8 fiesta st as well
Cool review. It's interesting to see cars we can't get in the states. I would start to rant about how we should have these but manual transmission hot hatches aren't exactly flying off the shelves in the us.
Great guy this Thomas! Very good review, where the passion of driving is shining through, that's the most important thing! But how the hell he's got an east coast accent but seems to be european? Dutch maybe? :)
In the case you're wondering what the eight subcompact hot hatches are, I'm assuming these: Ford Fiesta ST Peugeot 208 GTI Renault Clio RS Citroën DS3 Racing Seat Ibiza Cupra Volkswagen Polo GTI Skoda Fabia RS Opel Corsa OPC
However, looking at the price of that Peugeot, couldn't you get an Audi S1 Quattro for just a bit more? So that would make it 9 hot subcompacts. 10 if you count Fiat 500 Abarth, but I guess that's way smaller than the others.
I drive an old ass Corsa B, so I would naturally go for the Corsa OPC. I want the performance pack (LSD, Brembo, 7.5jx18), bright ass Citrus Orange, the "Extreme" spoiler and a few other minor options. I have a soft spot for the 208 though, and unfortunately, the Ibiza Cupra (my favorite) is now 8 years old.
You should lower the steering wheel, it's smaller so the top of the steering wheel should be a few cm lower than in any other car. Here it's clearly to high.
Veloster isn't a sub compact. It's a compact. Veloster also isn't that good (it was taken off the market in Europe because no one liked it). We get the Kia Pro_Cee'd GT instead, which is the better car. So if he was going to review a Korean hatch, it'd be the Kia.
freezor80 The Pro_Cee'd GT is actually the better car than the R-Spec. The Pro_Cee'd has fully independent suspension, for example, where the R-Spec has a torsion bar. This is why the Veloster was taken off of the market. By euro hot hatch standards it was really "meh".
Well the Veloster is only off the European market. It is still being sold here and being developed for the new performance line that Hyundai is coming up with. I hear it will be called N-Line Performance.
A rare breed in the Peugeot catalog. I do think they build the best French cars but their main focus and priority is always comfort- economy. they sacrifice the rest so Pugs are not fun to drive. Even the regular 208 gti is just a normal car. This time they did the same Renault uses to do and had Peugeot Sport tweaking the car. Oh and overall quality is just normal and they don't age well.
Mexicans to and they have the better ones, the brasil market is different they don't use gas and don't have any special editions and a lot of models are older or worse made for their market, Mexico at least have newer models, however they don't have GTi models only GT...
I wish hot hatches like these all had a 5 door option, I understand it doesn't look as sporty and stuff but I love these cars and it's just a 5 door is more practical for me that's all
Whoa he just randomly started cursing😂😂 our American analysts would never be able to do that without everyone having a meltdown. Everyone’s so PC here. I had to rewind cause I thought I heard wrong. 😂 good for him though 💯
We hope you noticed that Tom did multiple laps in the 208 but we are only showing a tiny fraction of that time. As a result we didn't worry about proper corner order, but focused on the best observational comments of the car's behavior on track. We do applaud your track-spotting ability, and thanks for watching.
My bad, i didn't think about multiple laps. I'm used to single lap on-board videos on the ring and that's why i reacted. I hope Tom continues making video reviews on the ring, because he is one of the few who takes cars on the green hell.
"better than Fiesta ST" ... WTF of question? LOL Of course it is better, it is a French GTi! But for your education, it is not the best sport car in this category of sport city cars. The best currently is the French (again, sorry for you wasp and english ^^) RENAULT SPORT CLIO 4 RS TROPHY 220hp which has by far the record on the Nurburgring, beating with 12 seconds better the former record of the Audi S1 Quattro and the BMW Mini JCW, in spite of their 231hp
Well it depends on the track. I believe on the Nurburgring the Clio is faster because it has 12 more hp, but on narrower and shorter tracks, the 208 BPS is actually faster. It grips better, is lighter and has way more torque than the Clio. Plus the 208 never did an official lap time like the Clio
yikes, this guy is hard to listen too. I watch American reviews alot so not a fair comments and kinda rude but just giving a little feedback to my two gay utah brothers hahaha.
Unfortunately I have to drive the vanilla 208 at work, and even though it is a new car, it is more than underwhelming - cheap glossy plastic everywhere that reflects sun always, the back wallows at higher speeds, the steering is overly direct on a small wheel so you look like you're drunk while driving straight... This GTi version maybe pulls it up to normal, albeit harder on suspension. I would never buy it with my own money, new or used. Especially when you find out that it has a lot of the old car in it, but hidden away (poorly) like bad finnishing of plastics etc. That Cupra from the last time is miles away from this... thing.
Great machine. Glad it's finally getting the recognition it deserves. Peugeot sport can build a good car!🙌🏻
I love “baby” hot hatches like these. Because although they’re not especially great at straight line speed (pretty irrelevant to be honest), on a tight, bumpy back road like the country lanes here in the U.K. They will (with a capable driver) keep up with machines that have considerably more power.
And, they’re proof that you A) Don’t need a huge bank account to have a truly exciting car and B) Don’t need a big amount of power to have an even bigger amount of fun.
This car and this review is seriously making me reconsider my idea of going six cylinders or more for my next car next year.
And, what did you get?
Dylan Fiddler I ended up going for an RCZ after being disappointed by a Z4 30i. So I have the same (more or less) engine that’s in the little 208.
@@jameswingrove7421 How do you like it?
I like this chap, but he always looks like he's just stolen the car he is reviewing 😂
And that's a good thing.
Drive it like you stole it
Likeable I agree. If he was wearing dark sunglasses, you couldn’t trust him at all
This guys is an enthusiast ! He knows his stuff and enjoys his job. Great review. Made me short list between this and a megane 265
Great Review, Great Car! And I have to agree i find the 208 gti PS better than most of the other hot hatches including the ST.
Show some more videos, i like the style of them!
My god this is so good. Had liked him last time , like him even more this time. He was born to do this!
As a MASSIVE Chris Harris fan I have to say ive enjoyed this video more than any of his for over a year. Great editing too. SUBBED :)
Loved the video.
Keep it up guys, theres lots of interesting cars to cover from this side of the Atlantic.
PUGs have been good handling cars since decades. They put a lot of effort on that even before power.
This guy is a great reviewer! please more of him and European cars.
Nice video. I like all of the content Tom has done so far.
Fantastic review! This guy's content is very entertaining and still remains factual. Well done.
This channel is constantly delivering amazing content. Awesome!
I'm an American hot-hatch Honda man myself, but the Peugeot, is a screaming hot alternative. I wish they were available here.
Swordsquire I agree 100%
They’re available in Mexico can drive it from there ?
great to follow you all the way here in Australia. I'm a big hot hatch here fan myself and we're blessed to have most of these hot hatches in Australia as well. As a Clio III RS owner it would indeed be great to see you review the Clio IV Trophy, but I think the American audience would also do well to see the king of FWD hot hatches, the Megane RS 275.
Tom is a very good reviewer!
Look forward to more content!
Good Job Tom. Keep up the good work.
Love your reviews.
This is a great Review. Don't forget to add the 2017 Mito QV !!!
If you guys listen to the podcast you would know that he lived in northeast US, but is originally from Germany where he currently lives. Great review and keep up the good work.
Awesome. Thanks for the info
loving these video's, great channel, would be good to see the Corsa OPC/VXR with the Performance Pack.
Mine arrives in 9 days :DDDDD
So what is it like ? :)
Great review! i love this guy :) keep it up!
Thomas, well done! Very entertaining.
This guy is a legend. Tom and Paul better be scared of him taking over your channel :P
As a Fiesta st Driver i say that the 208 PS is the sportyer Car. but its also much expensive then an st. the st ist competetive agains the normal 208. sadly there isnt a st with bigger Brakes, diff and Track focused tires.
I am really enjoying this guys reviews.
The definition of "hooning" right there ladies and gents.
Yeah, he's a good driver.
Great car if you buy the face lifted car, I have one, bought it over the fiesta st not because it's faster with more hp or handles as good (all of which are big psotives tho) but because the fiesta st (in the UK at least) has a certain reputation for being everyone's second car that they modify in hideous ways and then crash. No one bought these and no one expects it to have 208hp everyone who realises the car is a gti asks "who this a gti? Probably has around 140bhp", and to this day with 2+ years of owning one nothing has gone wrong and not a single fiesta st has beat it in a race that counts the new mk8 fiesta st as well
Driven both this and Mk 8 ST. Both terrific but ST makes you feel more alive when you’re booting it !!
Cool review. It's interesting to see cars we can't get in the states. I would start to rant about how we should have these but manual transmission hot hatches aren't exactly flying off the shelves in the us.
be great if we could get those here (US). Would be only direct competitor to Fiesta ST.
Great guy this Thomas! Very good review, where the passion of driving is shining through, that's the most important thing! But how the hell he's got an east coast accent but seems to be european? Dutch maybe? :)
Hey chris harris's cousin good video man
This or the cupra?
I dig the paint, I think, kinda hate it, I don't really know
cool review, plz keep em coming
The fact it comes with a mech lsd from factory would make it so much more appealing to me!
i love the 208!
I signed up on Patreon, and pledged to buy Tom one litre of fuel per month. Which is maybe two minutes at 145 mph. Also, love the red car @3:13
Much more fun (to watch) than driving top speed at the autobahn in my opinion
Please review the 308 GTi too, it's much better, it earns a lot of praise, even in the german press, and for a french car that's saying something ;)
Love seeing the gps of the track while driving on the ring lol
wow... another great review... thanks!!
starting to love this man
(no homo)
I agree this car is awsome
In the case you're wondering what the eight subcompact hot hatches are, I'm assuming these:
Ford Fiesta ST
Peugeot 208 GTI
Renault Clio RS
Citroën DS3 Racing
Seat Ibiza Cupra
Volkswagen Polo GTI
Skoda Fabia RS
Opel Corsa OPC
However, looking at the price of that Peugeot, couldn't you get an Audi S1 Quattro for just a bit more? So that would make it 9 hot subcompacts. 10 if you count Fiat 500 Abarth, but I guess that's way smaller than the others.
308 doesn't belong in that list. Maybe it's a typo and u meant 208.
Yeah, it was a typo. :) Thanks for pointing it out, I fixed it.
+ Mini JCW
Audi A1 S1
Alfa Romeo Mito QV
Abarth 500
Abarth Punto
very nice review
Awesome stuff big thumbs up here.
I have a THP200......just a good fun car to drive without thrashing it.
I like all his excitement
a car I can afford, hurray. great review too
wouldnt it be cool to have a video/comparison on the most affordable used supercars? V8 Vantage, Jag F-Type, ect?
is the nurburgring still enforcing the ban of bringing your own cameras? do you need special permits to do that?
I drive an old ass Corsa B, so I would naturally go for the Corsa OPC. I want the performance pack (LSD, Brembo, 7.5jx18), bright ass Citrus Orange, the "Extreme" spoiler and a few other minor options. I have a soft spot for the 208 though, and unfortunately, the Ibiza Cupra (my favorite) is now 8 years old.
would you try the type R?
i really like this piano black in interior...
Tom, try to get a test of the new M140i please.
You should lower the steering wheel, it's smaller so the top of the steering wheel should be a few cm lower than in any other car. Here it's clearly to high.
this guy is best
208 WRX❤️
Why not drive the JCW MINI GP2?
you guys are awesome but please do a review to a 207 rc/lemans!!!PLEASE
How could anybody flame that guy, he's awesome.
good driving
I love this guy's accent
reminds me of Bill Burr haha
Not a huge fan of the black/red paint combo, but an impressive wee car!
This man whips it like a rental!
Nice job guys. Making me super jealous Tom.
next time the very basic dacia sandero and DS3 or Ibiza
by the way, what the hell where they thinking with the two ton paint?
how do you get one of these bad boys in united states? Im in love with peugeot cars
Oganesson 118 there available in Mexico
Alex Acton didn’t they build that wall!@!!!! Oh damn now they cant have one!
Fiesta ST needs competition, this would be it......
Veloster R-Spec doesn't count as a subcompact hot hatch?
Veloster isn't a sub compact. It's a compact. Veloster also isn't that good (it was taken off the market in Europe because no one liked it). We get the Kia Pro_Cee'd GT instead, which is the better car. So if he was going to review a Korean hatch, it'd be the Kia.
Well in Europe they did not get the R-Spec model. Which I understand is very similar in specs to the Pro_Cee'd GT.
freezor80 The Pro_Cee'd GT is actually the better car than the R-Spec. The Pro_Cee'd has fully independent suspension, for example, where the R-Spec has a torsion bar.
This is why the Veloster was taken off of the market. By euro hot hatch standards it was really "meh".
Well the Veloster is only off the European market. It is still being sold here and being developed for the new performance line that Hyundai is coming up with. I hear it will be called N-Line Performance.
freezor80 Hyundai's nmew N-Performance car will be based on the i30 (Elantra GT), not the Veloster.
So here's the obvious question - When are you guys all getting together and doing a 3 car road trip? I'm waiting..
That's a great way of reviewing cars though.
I want one, bring them to Canada.
A rare breed in the Peugeot catalog. I do think they build the best French cars but their main focus and priority is always comfort- economy. they sacrifice the rest so Pugs are not fun to drive. Even the regular 208 gti is just a normal car. This time they did the same Renault uses to do and had Peugeot Sport tweaking the car. Oh and overall quality is just normal and they don't age well.
yeah I think Renault and Citroen are both better Renault have much better hot hatches Clio megane and Citroen have better Big cars
This dude sounds just like Christoph Waltz!
I wish we had Peugeot cars offered on this side of the ocean too.
Most of them are absolute shit boxes though don't feel too jealous, you guys get the GT 350R, Z06 and Z28. Grass is always greener..
They do, Brazilians have it.
No you don't, french cars apart from the hot hatches are dog shit
Mexicans to and they have the better ones, the brasil market is different they don't use gas and don't have any special editions and a lot of models are older or worse made for their market, Mexico at least have newer models, however they don't have GTi models only GT...
what kind of accent does this guy have? he sounds like a new yorker mixed with a guy from scotland
He's german
I wish hot hatches like these all had a 5 door option, I understand it doesn't look as sporty and stuff but I love these cars and it's just a 5 door is more practical for me that's all
They do a 5 door Fiesta ST in the mk7...
Review the new Camaro.
I live in the USA so many pocket rocket gems from Europe and Japan I don't get here.
Whoa he just randomly started cursing😂😂 our American analysts would never be able to do that without everyone having a meltdown. Everyone’s so PC here. I had to rewind cause I thought I heard wrong. 😂 good for him though 💯
Lol! A german guy speaking new jersey accent. I bet he learned it from watching The Sopranos.
wanna know why I'd have the Ford?......because it can be purchased in America.
good for you just shows how many great cars you miss out its a shame poor Americans
Dani Neira yeah so....it's not like my lack of choice is my fault.
Audiwan Kenobi I never said it was I said its a shame you need to miss out on so many great cars
Ok,cool....just don't come at me with "poor Americans" crap....it's very condescending.
if you say so... poor Americans isn't talking about finance it's a term which means unfortunate...
This guy speaks good German.
Might be because he's German. :)
He makes me want to watch car reviews by Christoph Waltz
Is he from Jersey?
Who edited this and put the mini karussell before the big one??? "Know your Nurburgring facts, dude!"
We hope you noticed that Tom did multiple laps in the 208 but we are only showing a tiny fraction of that time. As a result we didn't worry about proper corner order, but focused on the best observational comments of the car's behavior on track. We do applaud your track-spotting ability, and thanks for watching.
Because corner order in the background of a video is the MOST important aspect of continuity. /s
My bad, i didn't think about multiple laps. I'm used to single lap on-board videos on the ring and that's why i reacted.
I hope Tom continues making video reviews on the ring, because he is one of the few who takes cars on the green hell.
New Fiesta Mk8 ST is better now (with performance pack). To bad Peugeot is not gonna make a new 208 GTI
Ibiza Cupra Power!!
Toni Mascaro Erm... it’s a 208 GTi ... 🤷♂️
I know the guy is German but he sounds so much like Bill Burr
This guy sounds like a european bill burr 🤣
The way this guy is sitting makes my back hurt
Is he .... the german Chris Harris ?
I had the same thought... very similar commentary and emotions :-) I mean it in a good way - Good work Tom - bring more :-)
True, also looks a trifle similar. A very cool dude.
Cool car but I just can't listen to this guy. He is articulate but he has a voice made for magazines
"better than Fiesta ST" ... WTF of question? LOL Of course it is better, it is a French GTi! But for your education, it is not the best sport car in this category of sport city cars. The best currently is the French (again, sorry for you wasp and english ^^) RENAULT SPORT CLIO 4 RS TROPHY 220hp which has by far the record on the Nurburgring, beating with 12 seconds better the former record of the Audi S1 Quattro and the BMW Mini JCW, in spite of their 231hp
yes but that one got stiffer suspensions and breaks your back. hence 208 is better from a daily driven car point of view.
plus it is a peugeot so it's cheaper on insurance in uk.
Well it depends on the track. I believe on the Nurburgring the Clio is faster because it has 12 more hp, but on narrower and shorter tracks, the 208 BPS is actually faster. It grips better, is lighter and has way more torque than the Clio. Plus the 208 never did an official lap time like the Clio
the clio is terrible, sorry to say so, but it lacks torque and the EDC gearbox is a nightmare ...
just wondering: why in the world are you sitting like that while driving? ....do you have a bad back?....are you trying to obtain one?
yikes, this guy is hard to listen too. I watch American reviews alot so not a fair comments and kinda rude but just giving a little feedback to my two gay utah brothers hahaha.
👍🇵🇹
whats wrong with his voice ??
real GTI no replica fake
Unfortunately I have to drive the vanilla 208 at work, and even though it is a new car, it is more than underwhelming - cheap glossy plastic everywhere that reflects sun always, the back wallows at higher speeds, the steering is overly direct on a small wheel so you look like you're drunk while driving straight... This GTi version maybe pulls it up to normal, albeit harder on suspension. I would never buy it with my own money, new or used. Especially when you find out that it has a lot of the old car in it, but hidden away (poorly) like bad finnishing of plastics etc.
That Cupra from the last time is miles away from this... thing.